2007 winners

PTA Fundraising Achievement

Chiswick Community School PTA: Monthly Car Boot Sales

Chiswick Community School PTA ran their first car boot sale in August 1991. It attracted just 50 sellers and raised £300. From this small start the event has grown beyond all expectations and Chiswick Community School PTA now run a series of monthly boot fairs which hold the honour of being the fifth largest boot fair in the south east and are regularly featured on the television programme Car Booty.  Today four teams of between 40 and 50 parent volunteers run the car boot sales.  The highest amount raised at a single sale was £7033, in July 2006. For the academic year 2005 - 6, the car boot sales raised a staggering £58042, the equivalent of £47.57 per pupil.

Friends of Lacock School: Scarecrow Trail

Since Easter 2003 the Friends of Lacock School, have hosted an annual Scarecrow Trail. This innovative fundraiser involves children, parents, teachers, villagers and the local business community who make approximately forty scarecrows, to a chosen theme, which are then displayed around the village of Lacock. Visitors to the village participate in the trail by purchasing a trail card and then locating and naming each of the scarecrows. The resulting publicity has helped to raise the profile of the school and this hassled to a significant increase in the number of pupils on the school roll. The latest trail raised a fantastic £8000, which equates to £137 per pupil.

Changing the Life of a School

Trafalgar Schools PTA: After School Clubs

With 270 pupils and just one after school club, the Trafalgar Schools PTA wanted to increase the range of after school activities available for the children.  Following some initial research, which included surveying the parents and children, a list of 18 potential activities were identified. The pupils were then asked to vote on their top three preferred options. From this a final list of activities was agreed and the after school programme was underway.  To ensure that all children could benefit, the PTA agreed to allocate 10% of its annual income to fund subsidised places. The benefits for the pupils and wider community have been immense. Ten parent volunteers now manage and co-ordinate after school activities for 170 children.

Villa Real School Association: Horticultural Therapy Unit

Pupils at Villa Real School have multiple learning difficulties, or Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The Villa Real School Association spent many months fundraising for a Horticultural Therapy Unit. The unit was set up as a way for pupils aged 14 – 19 years old to learn skills that would help them to gain an assisted work place.   A corner of the playground and a disused overgrown allotment, became the new Horticultural Therapy Unit which has a range of features including wheelchair accessible beds, a wildlife pond, shed and polytunnels, a small animal run, a willow tepee, a sensory stimulation garden and bird feeding station.  Since the introduction of the Unit, the school has seen a reduction in challenging behaviour and improved parental support. Perhaps the greatest impact is that the school is now very well known in the local area and has raised the profile of disability awareness.

Achievement in Parental Involvement

Alcott Hall Primary School PTA: A new PTA

The PTA at Alcott Hall Primary School began with a few tenacious Mums, whose aim was to have a thriving team of at least ten committed parents. The new PTA was keen to involve other parents and to implement new initiatives that would make a difference to both the school and the surrounding community. Working closely with the Link Worker at the school, the PTA was able to identify the barriers that were preventing them from achieving these goals. One of the first things the PTA did was to set up a Community Room for the PTA and parents to use. The Community Room is now the centre of not just PTA activity but a venue for training sessions on various topics for parents. Alcott Hall Primary School is now known locally as the ‘school with the PTA’ with many parents happy to support the Association and wear the PTA’s trademark ‘red t-shirt’. 

Gilbrook School: Transport for Gilbrook Parents’ Group

Gilbrook School is a small school of just 50 pupils from the Wirral, with special educational needs. The Gilbrook Parents’ Group was set up in 2003 to offer support and information to parents of the children attending the school. Initially participation was low due to the distance that many families have to travel to the school, so the PTA took positive steps to address the situation and make getting to school more achievable for everyone.  The school has a mini bus and a parent volunteer offered to take a Minibus Driver Training and Assessment course. Now with a qualified volunteer driver the school is able to provide transport to the weekly Parents’ Group meetings. The number of parents now able to attend the group has doubled and this has had the additional bonus of increasing parental involvement in the PTA.